Hot spot (phenomenon)

The name or term "Hot Spot" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Hot Spot (disambiguation).

Hot spots are a phenomenon from the 2005 IDW portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

It's a good spot.

A hot spot is a location in which sparks are naturally known to ignite. Known hot spots have been recorded on Cybertron and its moons, though the vast majority have gone dormant over time. They are also known as sparkfields.

Fiction

2005 IDW continuity

According to Adaptus, the Guiding Hand had been born before the initial ignition of the hot spots, an event the quintet bore witness to. The Unremembering

Cybertronian history records twelve known hot spots across Cybertron, which appear to have ignited and cooled multiple times throughout the planet's existence: Rivets Field, Vespertine Blue, Port Residua — all three located in or near Iacon — Black Planet the Pious Pools, Vauvaire, Sansaw Sanserre, Automica, Warrior's Gate, Eugenesis, Alyon, Mesmerica, and Nova Point. A Spark Among Embers These were ignited by pulses from Vector Sigma—a race to find the new hot spot often occurred after each pulse. The Divided Self A hot spot would usually be consecrated before any sparks were harvested from it. The Fecund Moon One of the Signs of Affinity was becoming giddy when standing atop a hot spot. Journey's End

At least six of the Titans carried hot spots, which they engaged upon finding a suitable world to colonize. A 'Bot and Her City

During Cybertron's Golden Age, some six million years ago, Tailgate was one of the 'bots who emerged from the Rivets Field hot spot in Iacon that ignited two weeks before the launch of the first Ark. This Calamitous Life

Eventually, the hot spots stopped appearing, prompting Nova Prime to commission a team to see if it was possible to extract a new supply of sparks from the Matrix of Leadership as an alternative means of reproduction. The Divided Self

In the era shortly before the Great War, however, one hot spot appeared in Alyon, which from the skies looked like the shape of a hand. The Senate, knowing society and the Functionist Council would take this as an excuse to reintroduce hardline functionism, kept it a secret from the general population. Orion Pax and some other refugees from the Senate found out about it, and took up watch, believing the Senate wished to destroy them. In truth, the Senate had been wanting to create their own Outliers, and were bombarding the site with "fessile" radiation, unaware it was more likely to kill the sparks. Once they realized the jig was up, the Senate moved to plan B: blow the hot spot up. Fortunately Pax was able to take out their weapon platform, and the sparks were safely harvested. All Our Parlous Yesterdays

The lost moon Luna 1 was discovered to have a hot spot of unprecedented size, springing back to life when Rung set foot on it. The Fecund Moon A Spark Among Embers However the hot spot went dark not long after it was discovered. The Sound of Breaking Glass

A few years after the Chaos event reset Cybertron to a primal state, the Dinobots found a massive hot spot in what had once been Alyon, which Bludgeon had been using to commit twisted experiments. Redemption While the hot spot was brought to Starscream's attention, he opted not to harvest the sparks yet and kept its existence a secret. All the sparks were eventually stolen by Bludgeon as part of a plan to corrupt them into soldiers using Trypticon's lifeblood. Salvation

When the Cybertron of the Functionist Universe threatened the main reality, Team Rodimus hatched a plan to defeat the Functionist Council by exploiting Vector Sigma's connection to the hot spots. The Unremembering When a duplicate of the Matrix was opened at each hot spot, Cybertron shunted the energy surge to the orbiting Luna 1, reigniting the hot spot. A Spark Among Embers

Though it was initially questioned whether Cybertron had enough energon to support the reignited billion sparks, by the time of Ratchet's funeral, half of the "Lunarians" had been brought to term and successfully integrated into society. How To Say Goodbye And Mean It: Part 2

Notes

• In "Remembrance Day", Frak and Rushcut uncover the rare spark that will become Overlord in the Thymesis Energon mining facility on Luna 2. Because the mine is subsequently closed as their supervisor sends for an authenticator from the Functionist Council, it's evident that they were not expecting to find a spark there, so it seems that while it is rare for sparks to be found outside hot spots, they do sometimes occur naturally in Energon seams, at least.
• Fortress Maximus and Fulcrum's status as "warborn" forged Cybertronians has raised questions in the years since it was first mentioned as hot spots from during the war therefore are implied to be all-but impossible. James Roberts suggested the existence of minor random hot spots as the source of "warborn" forgings.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Hot Spot (ホットスポット Hotto Supotto)